Computing-poise for scales.



N0. 693,523. v Patented FBI); l8, I902.

M; F. I i COMPUTING BOISE FDR SCALES.

. A umion filed Apr. 9, 1901. I

(No Model.)

INVENTOR WIT/V 555s.-

Attorney 1w: NORRIS ptrzns c0. PKOTO-LI THO., WASHINGTON, n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MAT'II-IIAS F. KNOX, OE NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE.

COMPU ING-Poise FOR SCALES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 693,523, dated February18, 1902. I

Application filed April 9, 1901- Serial No: 54,9 75. (N0 model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MATTI-IIAS F. KNOX, a citizen of the United States,residing at Nashville, in the county of Davidson and State of Tennessee,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Computing-Poisesfor Scales; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in computing-poises for scales ofthat nature wherein a poise adapted to slide on the scale beam toindicate the weight in the usual manner is provided withinstrumentalities for indicating to the user the price to be paid forany weight of material indicated by the poise at difierent prices perpound.

One object of the invention is to provide such a poise with indicatingmeans, whereby the capacity of the same is largely increased withoutnecessarily adding to the size or weight of the poise or the cost ofproduction.

A further object of the invention is to provide the poise with separatecomputation-indicating bands or devices, so that alarge number ofcomputations may be had without ma teriallyincreasing the dimensions ofthe poise or weight or decreasing the size of the indicatin gcharacters, thus greatly increasing the capacity of thecomputing-poisewithout unnecessarily increasing its bulk.

A further object of the invention is to provide thecomputation-indicating bands with indications to show what weight ofmerchandise or material at a givenprice per pound is to be had for acertain amount of money.

A further object of the invention is to provide a computing-poise of thecharacter described with computation-indicating bands or ribbons andoperating mechanism therefor.

A further object is to provide a poise of the character describedwith acomputation-indicating band or ribbon, a spool or reeling device forsaid ribbon, and means for relatively varying the peripheral speed ofthe reeling device, so as to alwaysinsure the correct proportionalmovement between the band and the movement of the poise along the beam.

A further object of the invention is to provide a generally improved,simplified, and efficient poise for the purpose described.

With such and other objects in view the invention is embodied in thenovel parts, arrangement,and combinations of parts hereinafterdescribed, and particularly set forth in the claims.

In the accompanyingdrawings I have illustrated one form of a poiseembodying my invention, but desire it particularly understood that I donot limit my invention in its useful applications to the particularconstruction which for the sake of an understanding of the invention istherein delineated.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a front elevation of a poiseembodying my invention and showing a portion of the scalebeam. Fig. 2 isa rear elevation of the poise partially broken away to show the-interiorgear mechanism. Fig. 3 is a plan view with the top removed to show theregulating-gear for the band-reeling mechanism. Fig. 4 is a horizontalsectional view through the bands and reels or spools.

I have not illustrated in the accompanying drawings a scale and its beamin whole, as it is believed the same is not necessary to a sufficientand clear understanding of the invens tion. It will be understood,however, that the computing-poise weighing-beam can be associated withand form part of an ordinary double scale-beam, whereby one beam-arm maybe employed in connection with the ordinary weight-indicating poise, sothat when it is not desired to use the computing-poise the same can bemoved to the zero-point on its beam and the weight-indicating poise usedin its stead in a well-known manner.

Referring to the drawings, A indicates a scale-beam or scale-beam arm onwhich the computing-poise (indicated at B) is slidably mounted, thepoise being provided with an index b, adapted to follow the indicationson the beam-arm for the purpose of indicating the weights in awell-known manner. The scale-beam arm A is provided onits rear side witha laterally-projecting flange A, provided with a toothed rack at itsouter edge, which is indicatedat ct. The purpose of this toothed rack isto drive the reeling mechanism for the computation-indicating bandhereinafter described.

The poise B, as will be seen, is in the form of a hollow casing orboxing, which is conveniently made upot' side pieces with front and backpieces secured thereto in any preferred or usual manner. As will be seenfrom the drawings, I have shown the front plate 0 secured to the poiseand extending from apoint slightly below the lower edge of the beamarmto the top of the poise. This front plate is provided with view-openingsD, three of which are indicated in the drawings, and beside whichopenings are indicating or index bars E. These bars are shown to beformed with or a part of the front plate of the casing; but it isevident that they need not necessarily be made in this manner, as theymay be made of separate pieces secured to the front plate or otherwiseformed. Each of the indicating-bars E is provided, as will be seen, witha series of pointers or index-fingers e and ad jacent theseindicating-fingers with a number indicatingthe price per pound, and eachindicating-bar issals'o provided with a series of index pointers orfingers 6 arranged alternately between the index-pointers orindexfingers c. It may be stated here that the index pointers or fingerse are for the purpose of pointing or indicating the price to be paid fora certain weight of merchandise at the price per pound indicated by thenumber adjacent said pointer,while the indicating pointers or fingers ecooperate with indications on the computation-bands for indicating howmuch merchandise at the price per pound indicated by the number adjacentsaid pointer or finger may be purchased fora predetermined amount ofmoney, the amounts indicated on the drawings being multiples of fivecents. In rear of the front plate C and covering the slots therein is aplate or plates-0f glass (indicated at F) for the purpose of inclosingthe computation-indicating bands and protecting the same from dust. Theglass may be held in place in any preferred orsuitable manner, and it isnot thought necessary to mention herein any specific means.

The indicating bands or ribbons are shown at G, G, and G three beingshown in the present instance, but it being understood that one, two, orany number desired may be employed, according to the desired capacity ofthe poise. These bands or ribbons are mounted upon and operated bysuitable front and rear rolls or spools, the front spool being indicatedfor the respective bands at H, H,

and H and the rear spools being respectively indicated at I, I, and 1the bands, as will be seen from the drawings, being connected to onespool and passing to and rolled upon the other spool. As will be seen,especially, from Fig. 4 of the drawings, the bands do not pass directlyfrom the rear spools to the front spools, but pass from the rear spoolsto guiderollers J, which are journaled near the front plate of thepoise. It will thus be seen that by passing the bands or ribbons overthe guide-rollers J, as indicated at Fig. 4, the bands are held flatagainst or very close to the front glass plate and move paralleltherewith, the purpose being to hold the bands or ribbons near to theviewing slots or openings D, so that the indications thereon will movein correct alinement and very close to the index-pointers on the bars E.The spools II, II, and H and I, I, and I are provided with journals,(indicated at h and t',) the journals assin throu h and findin bearin in0 enp D O D 2-) ings in the plate K at the bottom,just above thescale-beam A, and at the upper ends of the spools is similarly arrangeda plate L, a short distance from the top of the poise, into the openingsin which plate the upper journals of the spools extend and have bearing.Each of the rear spools is provided at its lower end with a gear M,(respectively indicated at M, M, and M These gears are secured to thelower journals below the lower plate K and are adjustable on thejournals by means of set-screws, (indicated at m,) which pass throughthe hubs of the gears into engagement with the journals in a well-knownmanner. Each of the gears M, M, and M engages with and is rotated by thetoothed rack a on the scale-beam when the poise is slid thereon.

For the purpose of correctly speeding the bands or ribbons so that atthe view-openings they will move always at the same relative speed orthe same relative distance, according to the movement of the poise onthe beam, I make use of the following instrumentalities: Located withinthe space between the upper plate L and the top of the poise is a trainof gearing, of which N indicates a pinion which is secured to androtated by the spool I, which, as has before been said, is rotated bythe gear at its lower end. This pinion N is conveniently provided with ahub or stud n, extendinginto a suitable recess in the top of the casingor poise B, and is also provided with a squared end 42, entering acorrespondingly-shaped hole in the upper end of the roll orspool I. Thisconstruction affords a detachable connection between the pinion and thespool I. The pinion N, as will be seen, referring especially to Fig. 3,meshes with androtates a pinion O, which is loosely journaled in abearing in the upper plate and in turn meshes with and drives the gearP, which is provided with a journal journaled in the upper plate L andwhich is secured to a pinion p, meshing with a pinion Q, fixed orrigidly secured to a scrollgear R. This scroll-gear meshes with anddrives a similar oppositely-arranged scrollgear R, which latter, likethe other scrollgear R, is secured to a pinion S. The scrollgears R andR are suspended from the top plate by pivotal studs r, Fig. 2. Thepinion S meshes with and drives the pinion T, which is secured to agear-wheel T, the latter meshing with and driving a pinion U, fixed tothe upper journal of the front spool H The spool II has also securedthereto the gear U, which meshes with and drives an idler-pinion a,which in turn meshes with and drives a gear U secured to the front therear spool I and that the speed or motion of the front spools is avariable one governed and controlled by the scroll-gears R and R and thetrain of gearing operated thereby. The purpose of this gearing and itsoperation are believed to be manifest, it being used to decrease theperipheral movements of the front spools as the latter take on the bandsor ribbons and increase in size, during which it is evident that theribbons or bands, unless the spools are variably speeded, will not bemoved always the'same distance relative to the amount of movement of thepoise on the scale-beam. The manner. of mounting or journaling the gearsis notan essential feature of this invention. v

Each of the computation-indicating bands, as will be seen, is providedwith two series of numbers, the first (shown at g) indicating the priceof the number of pounds indicated by the poise at the price per poundindicated by the number on the bar E adjacent said number. The secondseries of numbers (indicated at g) is for the purpose of assisting inascertaining the number of pounds of merchandise which can be purchasedfor a given or stated sum, and these numbers in the series g cooperatewith the index-pointer e, indicating, when a register-mark (indicated at9 on the computation-indicating band registers with the index-pointer e,that the number of pounds ofmerchandise indicated by the poiseindex 5 atthe price per pound indicated by the number on the bar E can be had forthe amount or sum of money indicated by the number on theindicating-band whose register-mark registers with the index-pointer e.Each band or ribbon at its upper end is pro.- vided with a series offigures agreeing with the figures on the scalebeam and so arrangedrelative thereto that when the index I) of the poise indicates a certainweight on the weight-beam the number indicating the same weight shouldappear in the view-openings at the top. This series of numbers orindications is shown at g, and it will be understood by the user that ifthe numbers at g and at the index I) do not agree the bands are out ofproperadjustment and their adjustment must be corrected. This is done byadjusting the gear-wheel M on the lower ends of the spools by means ofthe set-screws m, before referred to.

It will be observed that the reeling-spools for the bands are located oneach side of the scale-beam and that the bands move transversely acrossthe beam from one spool to the poise longitudinally relative to thebeam, and thus avoiding a shifting of the weight of the poise todifferent points longitudinally of the scale-beam, which would interferewith the correct operation of the poise.

From the above it is believed that the operation and use of theinvention will be thoroughly understood; but for the purpose ofclearness it might be well to make the following statement of its use inconnection with a specific case. Suppose it is desired to deliver to acustomer eight pounds of merchandise at five cents per pound. Theoperator moves the poise on the beam until the index I) registers withthe eight-pound mark on the beam, when by looking at the indicationopposite the indeX-pointerefor the five-cent-per-pound indication hewill see that the price is forty cents. Now suppose the purchaserdesires to buy forty cents worth of merchandise which sells for fivecents per pound. The salesman instead of making the calculation as tothe number of pounds watches the fivecents-per-pound indication on thebarE and moves the poise until the register-mark 9 adjacent the figure40 registers with the index-pointer e, at which time the poise willindicate to him the number of pounds to deliver for such price, which inthe instance indicated will be eight pounds, as indicated by the indexI) of the poise.

The drawings, it will be observed, show the computation-indicating bandsprovided with two columns or rows, lengthwise, of figures for eachprice; but it is to be understood that I reserve the right to the use ofbut one column.

By making the bands sufficiently long and properly proportioning thesize of the spool or driving-gears M the band can be made to move, say,an inch or more for each movement of the poise on the beam from onepound indication to the next, thus providing ample space for all figuresand marks in one column, and consequently reducing more or less the sizeof. the poise. Thus, also, will be provided means for indicating pricesfor smallfractions of pounds, the fractions of pounds being indicatedatthe top of the band and seen through the weight-openings. I

-It will be apparent that, if preferred,'the driving-gears M can beplaced on the lower ends of the journal of the front rolls instead ofthe rear ones and the register-marks on the bands regulated to registeraccurately. Of course the scroll-gears are employed in either instance.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new, and desiredto be secured by-Letters Patent, isi 1. The combination with a slidablepoise, of acompnting-band, spoolsin operative com- IIO munication withthe band disposed at separated points within the poise, and on oppositesides of the beam adapted to be moved with the poise, and means forimparting a rot-ary motion to the spools to effect the travel of theband from one to the other thereof when the poise is slid back andforth, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a scale-beam provided with a toothed rack, of acomputingpoise slidably mounted on said beam, a spool journaled in saidpoise at one side of said beam, a spool journaled in said poise at theother side of said beam and opposite said first-named spool, acomputation-indicating band secured to and adapted to be wound upon saidspools and a gear connected to one of said spools and geared to saidtoothed rack on the scale-beam, substantially as described.

3. Thecombination with a scalebeam provided with atoothed rack, of apoise slidable thereon, a plurality of computation-indicating bands insaid poise, spools for each band to which the same is secured and uponwhich it is adapted to be wound, a gear connected to one of said spoolsand geared to said toothed rack, and a train of gearing connecting saidspools for driving all of said bands, substantially as described.

4. The combination with a scale-beam provided with a toothed rack, of apoise slidable thereon, and having separated bearing-plates therein, aspool journaled in said bearingplates at one side of said beam, a spooljournaled in said bearing-plates at the opposite side of said beam andopposite said first-named spool, a computation-indicating band connectedto said spools, a gear secured to the journal of one of said spoolsbelow the lower bearing-plate, and a train of gears connecting saidspools located between the upper bearing-plate and the topof the poisefor operatively connecting the spools, substantially as described.

5. In a computing-poise, the combination with a ribbon or band providedwith a series of computations arranged in pairs, means for carrying andoperating the band within the poise, and a corresponding series ofindexpointers arranged in pairs of differentiating configurationscarried by the poise, substantially as described.

6. In a computing-poise, the combination with acomputation-indicatingband, of spools on which said band is wound, meansfor driving one of said spools, and gearing instrumentalitiesintermediate the spools for variably driving the other spool,substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

7. In a computing-poise, thecombination with a beam on which the poiseslides, a computation-indicatin g band, verticallydisposed spools onopposite sides of the beam within the poise on which said band isadapted to be wound, and an operative communication between the end ofone of the spools and the scale-beam for revolving the spools when thepoise is slid back and forth, substantially as described.

8. In a computing-poise the combination with a plurality ofcomputation-indicating bands, of a reeling mechanism for each bandcomprising a plurality of spools, means for driving one of said spools,and driving mechanism for connecting said driven spool to the other ofsaid spools for variably driving said other spools, substantially asdescribed.

9. In a computing-poise, the combination with acomputation-indicatingband, of spools on which the same is wound, meansfor driving one of said spools, and means for driving the other of saidspools variably, including scroll-gears, substantially as described.

10. In a computing-poise, the combination with a plurality ofcomputation-indicating bands, of spools upon which the bands are adaptedto be wound, means of driving one of said spools to cause the travel ofthe bands, and a variable driving mechanism for the other spools, saiddrive mechanism being operated by said driven spool, substantially asdescribed.

11. The combination with ascale-beam provided with a toothed rack, of acomputingpoise slidable thereon, a plurality of computation-indicatingbands, a series of spools on one side of said scale-beam, a series ofspools on the other side of said scale-beam, operative communicationbetween the spools and bands, means for driving one of said spools onone side by the toothed rack, a variable drive mechanism for the spoolson the other side of said scale-beam operated by said drivingspool,substantially as described.

12. In combination with a fixed part, apart movable bodily on said fixedpart, and computation-indicating instrumentalities within the movablepart adapted to be operated and conveyed thereby, comprising anindicatingband, spools onto which the band is wound, and means forrotating the spools at different speeds, substantially as and for thepurpose described.

13. In combination with a fixed part, a part movable bodily on saidfixed part, and computation-indicating instrumentalities within themovable part adapted to be conveyed thereby, comprising an indicatingband, spools onto which the band is wound, means in communication withthe fixed part for driving one of the spools and means for variablydriving the other of said spools, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MATTHIAS F. KNOX. WVitnesses:

T. O. TICE, J NO. H. IIUEY.

